AFRICAN-INSPIRED ART
Madonna and Child: This mother and child were sitting in the Gehembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda where I visited in 2015. They represent to me the sacred divine that is often hidden but waiting for us to notice in those we oppress, ignore, or pass over.
Woman with a Drum: Traditionally women do not drum in tribal cultures, but this painting represents a combination of experiences I had in Kenya and Rwanda in 2015. Young refugee girls were finding healing in drumming, dancing, and singing. Western methods of therapy were not working--these women had to remove the trauma from their bodies kinetically before they could ever talk about it--and when they did it was in a group. And what joyful energy there was! The woman drumming is a 23 year old Somali woman who risked her life to take medical and hygiene supplies to refugee women hiding in urban areas outside of refugee camps. (Kenya had made it illegal for any refugee to be outside a camp even if they had family in the country.)
